Video Helps Provide Safer Environment
If you are walking around on the Post Falls High School campus, someone could be watching you.
The new high school has installed about 25 cameras inside and outside of the building in hopes of decreasing criminal activity.
“The atmosphere I am observing is that people are taking better care of the school,” said Superintendent Richard Harris.
In past years at PFHS there have been problems with petty crime, including abusing lockers, putting holes in walls and other vandalism.
However, since the new school opened this fall, there has been a significant drop in the amount of crime and vandalism on school grounds. The cameras have played an important role in this decrease, school officials say.
“The presence of the cameras has been a deterrent,” Vice Principal Mark Jones said. “There is no vandalism.”
Students also are seeing an advantage in having cameras in the school building.
“If there is vandalism they can find out who did it,” junior Corey Anderson said.
“People stay in class more,” said junior Jennifer Davis.
Harris explained that while looking at other schools during the planning process for the building, cameras seemed to be gaining popularity in the newer schools.
In addition to reducing vandalism, Harris said, the cameras will help provide a safer environment for students.
Jones said that the cameras have been useful. Some of the best uses of the cameras are detecting locker theft, illegal or improper parking, closed campus violations and vandalism of school property. A student was given a citation for littering after the act was captured on camera.
The cameras also can be used to monitor student behavior if necessary. The consequences of crimes caught on camera are the same as if they were seen at the time the incident occurred. Some punishments include in-house suspension, out-of-school suspension, or even citations, depending on the severity of the act.
“The idea behind the cameras is not to spy on people, but to provide factual records,” said Jones.
The cameras were paid for with the money received by the bond election that was approved in 1998 to pay for the new high school. The total cost for the cameras was $33,000, which included monitors, wiring and installation.
The cameras record non-stop and are located in the hallways and parking lots. There are no cameras in private areas such as the bathrooms or locker rooms. Also, the cameras do not record sounds. They are strictly video. In the parking lots the cameras are strong enough to read the license plate of a car and they can zoom in on a particular area to get a more detailed picture.
“Everything has worked how it is supposed to. Students have behaved properly and the school looks the way it is supposed to,” said Jones, adding that there have been no complaints about the cameras.